Russia frees one Pussy Riot member, keeps two in jail

Members of the all-girl punk band "Pussy Riot" Nadezhda Tolokonnikova (centre), Maria Alyokhina (right) and Yekaterina Samutsevich (left) are seen in court in July. Alyokhina collapsed in court Wednesday during the band's high-profile trial for performing an anti-Putin song in a Moscow church. The group has complained about a lack of food and sleep during the trial. (AFP Photo/Natalia Kolesnikova)

A Russian appeals court Wednesday ordered the release of one member of punk band Pussy Riot after turning her two-year prison sentence into a suspended term but kept two others in jail with unchanged verdicts.

The judge at the Moscow city court ordered the release of Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, after giving her a two-year suspended prison camp term for performing a protest stunt against President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s main church.

However the two-year prison camp sentences of Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, were upheld by the court.

Judge Larisa Polyakova ruled “to leave Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova’s sentences without changes” while bowing to the appeal filed on behalf of Samutsevich, who was judged not to have taken actual involvement in the “punk prayer” performance.

The judge stressed that Samutsevich could be jailed again if she “violates several restrictions established by law or commits some other crime.”